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Waging Nonviolence / Op-Ed
Published: Friday 7 September 2012
“The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), after which the Undocubus was partially modeled, brought segregation and the violence that upheld it straight to President Lyndon Johnson’s doorstep.”
Undocubus Connects Immigrants to Civil Rights Legacy at DNC
The Undocubus, a busload of undocumented activists from Arizona, rode across the Deep South throughout the month of August to call attention to immigration policies that criminalize immigrants and separate families. The group arrived at the Democratic National Convention on Saturday, 48 years and eight presidential administrations after civil rights activists enacted a similar strategy in 1964.
The legacy of the civil rights movement holds rich implications for contemporary struggles over immigrant rights. In the lead-up to the 1964 presidential election, organizers working in Mississippi hosted Freedom Summer, bringing hundreds of whites from across the nation to spend their summer living alongside blacks and registering them to vote in some of the most violent segregated towns in the South.
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), after which the Undocubus was partially modeled, brought segregation and the violence that upheld it straight to President Lyndon Johnson’s doorstep. The MFDP delivered a parallel Democratic party of all-black Mississippians to the 1964 DNC to protest the seating of an all-white party. Although the MFDP was not formally seated at the convention that year, the amount of national press coverage was considerable. The nation was effectively shamed into dealing with its violent contradictions, and,the following year, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, putting a stop to Jim Crow laws that suppressed the black vote.
The civil rights movement relied heavily on three main strategies. There was a strategic use of media to make racist violence visible and morally unbearable, coupled with a reliance on cross-racial solidarity, and a willingness of organizers and participants in the struggle to risk beatings, jail time and worse to challenge repression. Repressive violence caught the attention of the national news media, piping murder and police brutality onto televisions nationally. People from around the country, black, white and otherwise, saw these stories and felt compelled to action. Participants in the Freedom Rides and the Freedom Summer put their lives on the line. Thousands marched in Alabama and Washington. Others donated money and goods to the communities and organizations leading the struggle.
What’s the take-away for those involved in today’s civil rights struggles, including the struggle for immigrant rights?
Direct action tactics must confront power in a strategic way, interrupting “business as usual” in order to push for a win. The immigrant rights movement has mobilized millions, but we are still without justice. Audacious visions of what victory might look like are not the only thing we need. We must also envision and cultivate game-changing actions and alliances. Our actions not only need to stop the show for a day, they must win the hearts of families across the nation.
Many immigrants find the thought of direct action downright scary — the price of arrest often equals incarceration, deportation and a slew of abuses (including violence and sexual assault) along the way. But undocumented people do not have to face this struggle alone. My mother is undocumented, and I would never encourage her to actively risk arrest and deportation. But would I risk going to jail, possibly losing my job or risking future employment and incurring financial costs so that she could have a driver’s license, health insurance and a steady income that enables her to save for retirement?
Absolutely.
It wasn’t just the families and friends of black folks who were willing to risk their own well being for African-American civil rights. It was ordinary people, some with no direct connection to the issue whatsoever, who risked even their lives so that others could have a chance at freedom. The price they paid stands as a testament to the strength of a movement whose organizing enabled people to sustain such risks.
Similarly, immigrant civil rights will not be won without broad-based, multi-racial support and alliances. One way to win such support is by making the daily violence that our communities live with known. We must make its weight morally unbearable, too heavy for the public to continue to support or ignore.
To be sure, immigrant communities face a different type of violence now than black folks did in the Deep South in the 1960s and before. But it is no less serious. Our people face death crossing the border. Upon arrival, the job options available tend to be in restaurants, domestic work, agriculture and construction — industries rife with abysmally low wages, sexual abuse, and the possibility of being enslaved, seriously injured or even killed on the job. Our families live with the threat of imprisonment and deportation hanging over their heads every day. I am consistently terrified that the next phone call I receive from my mother will be the last before she gets locked up and sent to Mexico just because she drove herself to work.
We can tell these stories strategically. Developing a messaging framework across sectors of immigrant struggles enables connections between what might seem like isolated incidents of violence. Through retelling our trauma, we can reveal the humanity in events that otherwise would be just statistics, winning allies who were previously on the fence and perhaps pushing those who already agree into greater indignation and action.
Democracy is built on dialogue and participation, and the government cannot continue to penalize people for a failure to deal with the reality of migration. Full amnesty for all immigrants and a real path to citizenship for those who are here, along with those who are on their way, is just one step towards making democracy truly possible. The right to vote will not be a magic ticket out of poverty and oppression; only sustained struggle and a real commitment to shifting the nation’s consciousness around what full democratic participation looks like can get us there.
The legacy of African-American civil rights can suggest parallel trajectories and strategies to be followed, if only we are willing to listen. All of us, regardless of who we are or where we live, have the right to live with dignity. My mother, alongside the thousands of other undocumented people in this country, deserves to be able to leave her house each day without imminent fear of arrest and deportation. It will take a mix of audacity and vision to make this possible, but I am thankful that the road is already partially paved.
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By Kiley Kroh
4 comments on "Undocubus Connects Immigrants to Civil Rights Legacy at DNC"
September 07, 2012 8:56pm
Excuse me, but, where in the immigration laws of the United States is there an opportunity for a group of people, regardless of age or gender and in the country illegally, to form a group or have any say on immigration policies that criminalize immigrants and separate families. If someone is illegally in the country, I believe the only “rights” a person has is their choice of how to leave the country. Since when is there any discussion regarding organizing activists to protest anything if they are illegal. Illegal is just that – illegal. When and how did the definition of the word illegal change when it comes to “illegal aliens”.
I can understand the reasoning for the desire for "immigrant civil rights" if the immigrants are in the United States under legal documentation through the processes set up by the government of this country to allow immigrants to live and work in the country.
But, I am at a loss to understand why illegal, undocumented people who have illegally entered or stayed in the county would demand "rights or equalization" because they are in America through illegitimate means. In what way are the citizens of America obligated to accept illegals just because they are treated as anyone else would be in any other country in the world? Do you think that any other country such as Japan or Italy or South Africa or Norway would dismiss all immigration criteria for a large number of people who crept across their borders undetected or overstayed their visitor’s visa? Not likely. Why should America?
Might their efforts be better served to adjust their home country's attitudes toward their own citizens regarding quality of life, as well as safety, rather than go somewhere else where they become a problem for another country?
I know that a lot of people might say "but their country doesn't have what America has" which is most likely very true but...by leaving a country to become a slave laborer, which is what a tremendous amount of Hispanics and Latinos do, does not progress themselves or this county. It adds money to the pockets of a very few companies in the country and causes problems for the general populous. In fact, what is happening is that there is an amount of national debt being accumulated to pay for the food stamps, health care, schooling and other services that are actually illegally gained by “undocumented” illegals that want a living standard better than a slave in this economy.
I find this justification espoused by people who have no legal basis for being in the country to be absurd. They can call themselves “undocumented activists” but, to me they are an organized group of illegals that should be asked to go back to where they originated and apply legally like everyone else who enters the country under the immigration laws of the U.S.A. If that is not done, why have immigration laws at all because they are useless if any illegal alien organized group can wave flags, shout slogans and demand citizenship because they have managed to sneak into the country without being caught?
I would also like to add that comparing the current illegal immigration fiasco to the “Civil Rights” issue of black Americans is a red herring. The black American has been in America for a long, long time after paying a very heavy price through slavery and discrimination. They chose to stay in America unlike those people south of the American border who have chosen to enter of their own accord.
September 08, 2012 6:17am
gazuk@comcast.net >>If someone is illegally in the country, I believe the only “rights” a person has is their choice of how to leave the country. Since when is there any discussion regarding organizing activists to protest anything if they are illegal.
I think you need to reconsider your view of humanity (see below), but first...
Ever heard of expressing opinions and motivating people on laws you don't like (for whatever reason) in the hopes they will be changed? How do you think women's suffrage and making slavery illegal came about?
As another example, currently it is illegal to deny the speech/money rights of corporations, yet many people are organizing to have the Constitution amended.
When peaceful people don't like laws they peacefully organize and try to influence new legislation. Happens all the time and certainly in the civil rights movements.
Since when does "illegal" mean you aren't a human and can't talk and share concerns and hope for a better future?
Ever heard of innocent until proven guilty? The government can be wrong, yes, they can. They can't just accuse someone, round them up, and assign a penalty (although in the name of national security and war they might).
Further, over 200 years, ago, many people on this land violated a great bunch of rules they felt were unjust, fought a war, and gained independence from Great Britain. Some would say that fighting that war was the right thing to do.
Finally, a little humanity..
[from wikipedia]> "The Universal Declaration was adopted by the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 by a vote of 48 in favour, 0 against, with eight abstentions:"
>The following countries voted in favour of the Declaration:
> ... United States ...
The Universal Declaration of Human rights (a few of the articles):
>Article 1.
>All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
>Article 2.
>Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
>Article 3.
>Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
>Article 11.
>(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
>Article 13.
>(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
>(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
>Article 14.
>(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
>(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
>Article 15.
>(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
>(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
>Article 19.
>Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
>Article 20.
>(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
>> Might their efforts be better served to adjust their home country's attitudes toward their own citizens regarding quality of life, as well as safety, rather than go somewhere else where they become a problem for another country?
I'm sure many people are doing one, the other, or both.
I'd also like to see a study or reasoning that all of the people (or even more than half) who are here illegally are becoming a problem for this country in the sense of making the nation worse through their own fault.
>> by leaving a country to become a slave laborer, which is what a tremendous amount of Hispanics and Latinos do, does not progress themselves or this county.
Some people are conned, but I think the best judge of whether something helps a person is usually that person. As for advancing the nation, I'd like to see a study that if you, to pick a fraction, remove the "worse" half of the illegal immigrants, that the remainder makes the nation worse rather than better.
Also, many individuals think of their kids, for example, and not just their own person.
>> what is happening is that there is an amount of national debt being accumulated to pay for the food stamps, health care, schooling and other services that are actually illegally gained by “undocumented” illegals that want a living standard better than a slave in this economy.
There is no reason to think an illegal alien can't enrich this land and its people given a chance. True, our current laws might be creating problems. Some people are organizing to get them changed.
>> The black American has been in America for a long, long time after paying a very heavy price through slavery and discrimination.
How long were you in this nation paying a very heavy price through slavery and discrimination before you were entitled to assemble and express opinions or vote?
By your argument, I think you should not have your rights either because you have not paid sufficient a price.
[Update/Edit: [wikipedia: The Universal Declaration has received praise from a number of notable people. ... In a speech on 5 October 1995, Pope John Paul II called the UDHR "one of the highest expressions of the human conscience of our time".] Of course, if you are not Catholic, you might not care about that pope's opinion, but I think it's safe to say that many American citizens do. Even ignoring the moral issues, I still think -- and I'm no expert -- that the legal status of that document creates binding responsibilities on this country because of Constitutional actions taken in the past.. not that the Constitution is above humanity, of course, but some people invoke it like it's a superBible.]
September 07, 2012 2:39pm
How disgusting and I am physically sick to read this article. Black people and the discrimination they experienced was not by choice. They did not choose to come here against the laws of this country. These people CHOSE to come here in violation of US laws. CHOSE! Chose willingly. Would they and their home country be so charitable and welcoming to a US citizen going to their country to support their family back in the US? Hell NO!
As to separating families, again that is their CHOICE to separate the family. My cousin, his non-US citizen wife, two US Citizen children went back to her home country when her green card was denied and H1-B visa expired. They CHOSE not to separate the family, said they would be horrible parents to choose to split up the family and would not be fit to raise their children. They also CHOSE not to violate US law because of the adverse impact on their children and it would be teaching them immoral behaviors.
Here's the humanity side. These people willingly enter into and keep supporting human trafficking by thwarting US law. This bus trip is supporting human trafficking and human traffickers. The whole reason why there are abuses is due to people like Ms. Vallejo supporting allowing illegals to stay in this country. They all need to go back to their home countries and come here legally so they have the legal protection of the laws and US Constitution. Every voice that speaks out for amnesty is a SCREAM OF SUPPORT for human traffickers and human trafficking. I am fighting against human trafficking and believe that human traffickers need to be imprisoned for life in the world's worst prison. I also support a sane immigration policy and different levels of work visas, but at levels that do not harm the employment opportunities of US citizens and LEGAL residents. These Undocubus people are just as bad, if not worse than the Africans that sold their enemies and country men and women to white slave traders. They are doing the same thing, enslaving these trafficked people.
Go home and get in the legal line. Of course you will be behind my cousin and all the others that value our country, its laws, and have high morals, good values, and know right from wrong, something these people know nothing about. They willingly chose to break the law and there are unpleasant consequences that come with that choice. They willingly pay thousands to a trafficker.
Dr. King states that we need to judge people by the content of their Character and illegals have been judged and found lacking any character. Black people who worked for civil rights; they had good character, good values, and held themselves to a higher moral code. Something these illegals should study and then put into action. They won't and will continue to bastardize the Civil Rights movement.
September 07, 2012 6:41pm
jeltez42, how much money and education does your cousin have? I am curious because a lot of people with skill and money voluntarily choose to live abroad because of how far even a modest showing can take them; the life they can live is very different than those who have never had opportunity for decent schooling to build up skills and modest wealth. I also think those with education and some money and ties to the US would have an easier time getting one of the very few opportunities there are to get back in, so it's understandable they would be more optimistic about getting in line.
You also mentioned that other nations would have no sympathy for Americans, yet was not your cousin allowed to enter a foreign nation and presumably legally reside there (otherwise the family will have to break the law or split up)?
I don't understand what logic leads you to call this group as equivalent to selling people into bondage. I don't know much about this group, but I get the feeling you are way off.
I think you take for granted the ability of many Americans to have lots of rights and opportunity here in the US that many foreigners don't have in their naive lands and to have money to travel almost wherever they want with few restrictions by simply flashing their US passport.
Let me ask you, if the odds of you getting a legal path [to US residency] were small and opportunity was rare and/or violence high, what sort of sacrifice would you consider making for the future of your family?
Let me ask, what great deed did you do in an earlier life to merit having the stork drop you off on this side of the US border rather than outside of it? I'm curious to know why you think as a human being you deserve to have been born here with US rights any more than anyone else born outside the US.
You are talking about using up US jobs as if that money wasn't circulated in the economy and helped support more jobs. In contrast, the money that is not circulated nearly as well is money that goes to support the very wealthy elite. They create a trickle down bottleneck to the circulation of that money (not to mention their privileged power coming from US military force on all other Americans and whose cost is subsidized by other US citizens who do most of the work in the US yet have much less leverage in order to get fair wages for their work).
You also seem to forget that many Americans only live in this nation possibly only because one of their ancestors came here without the authorization of the native Americans living here. Americans have a horrible record of mistreatment against native Americans in centuries past. We can argue to have all such of European decent (assuming we could track this) be ejected.. unless you are invoking might-makes-right in your argument.
I don't think you appreciate the sense of hopelessness many feel (not to justify every case of course).
I am also curious about your views on children who are essentially Americans in all ways except their documented status, having been brought here illegally at a young age.